Horror as dad's new £29,000 Ford Ranger erupts into fireball on busy M5

Daniel Adkins, 40, was travelling to work with family members when he saw smoke coming from the bonnet and later said about the incident that he'd 'never known anything like it'

A dad described the terrifying moment he narrowly escaped his expensive pick-up truck after it suddenly burst into flames on a busy motorway.

Daniel Adkins, 40, was driving with his step-dad and younger brother and said his Ford Ranger - worth £29,000 - unexpectedly went into 'limp home mode' while on their way to work on the M5 in the early hours of October 11. The men were luckily able to make it onto the hard shoulder before the vehicle suddenly erupted into a ball of fire.

Astonishing images caught the intense blaze as smoke poured over the packed lanes of traffic, reported BirminghamLive. Daniel, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, said: "It was a 50mph limit and the motorway was busy when it suddenly felt like I had mechanical failure."

He went on: "It seemed to lurch into limp home mode and I noticed smoke coming from the bonnet. I managed to pull across two lanes and onto the hard shoulder when we noticed the flames." Recalling the intensity of the event, he added, "We all jumped out and ran up the hard shoulder and then it just went bang and exploded. I’ve never known anything like it. The heat from the flames was really intense."

He elaborated on the close call, stating, "If we’d been inside much longer we’d have struggled to get out when we did." The electrical engineer was travelling to his job at the Heineken factory in Hereford around 4am when they faced the sudden explosion. Thankfully, Daniel along with his step-dad Alfred, 68, and brother George, 18, were all unscathed. Daniel, who owns an electrical contracting business, bought the 2021 registered Ford on September 10.

He commented: "It only had 29,000 miles on the clock and was still under warranty when it exploded. It just went up in no time and it started banging. You do not ever think it would happen to you - it was really surreal. After the state of shock, it is hard to take in. Then it kicked in at 4am the other morning and I noticed how different it could have been."

Following the incident, two lanes at junction six near Worcester were shut for hours as fire crews battled the ferocious fire. Daniel informed that Spa Motors Hereford, the dealership from where he purchased the vehicle, directed him to deal with his insurance.

Daniel, married to Kelly, 40, said: "It was not my doing, and cars don't just set on fire, so it must have been a mechanical issue." He said that an investigator from the insurance company is set to examine the car to determine the cause of the fire. A representative from Spa Motors Hereford stated: "We are currently corresponding with the customer in regards to the matter."